The Farthest

This documentary tells the decades of discoveries led by a group of scientists and the two Voyager probes.

The images are beautiful and literally out of this world. It is great to see so many interviews of scientists who were involved in the process. There is a lot of inside information, such as the opposition to taking a final photo of the solar system at the end of the mission. I got moved to tears many tints, because this mission is beyond humanity, beyond space and beyond time.

The Voyager mission is one of the most interesting in of all NASA. Two spacecraft which have been functioning since their launch in 1977, the year I was born, are still sending data as they race outside of the Solar System. This film is telling the story of the mission and the people that worked in it and how important this mission was for the knowledge and identity of our species. The quote that stuck in my mind was "We've gotten away with it!", said by one scientist as he described his enthusiasm of the launch. I mean, here are these super smart people, planning ahead for decades one of the first and few real spacecrafts we humans have ever built, and what they feel is that they slipped it under the nose of their government and nation and species. I loved every one of the scientists that contributed to the show, their youthful enthusiasm so contrasting with their advanced ages, revealing the light in their hearts.

The film was a bit too long, at two hours, and maybe it would have been more powerful as a mini-series instead. It goes through the excitement when it first reaches Jupiter, then Saturn, then the bitter sweet moment when Voyager 2 reaches Uranus at the same time that Challenger explodes and finally Neptune. Another quote was about how small color dots from the Earth telescopes turn into worlds when Voyager goes past the planets.

I love all of these documentaries, which show who worked passionately to make things like these happen, to truly further humanity against all odds and against its mostly indifferent members, shows that really show the worlds around us and expand our horizons. If you love space, you should see this.

This is an excellent documentary showing the achievement of a team and a piece of technology that launched from our planet in 1977. Imagine if our public money internationally was all so well invested and intrusted to such competent people. Great Irish film making also.

I'm a scientist and used to love astronomy. After watching this film it made me feel that the whole human race owes a debt of gratitude to the architects of Voyager 1 & 2, surely the most important space missions to date. It was pitched at a perfect level, being understandable, thoroughly informative and gripping. Documentaries can be dull at times, but this had me listening to every single word and feeling a rush of almost spiritual elation at what we achieved as a human race. My thanks go to the film makers for such a wonderous and inspiring film, depicting how humans can reach beyond our small world both metaphorically and literally.

In 1977, NASA launched Voyager1 and Voyager2. They traveled to the lesser-known outer planets and some of the moons orbiting them. The planets' rare alignment made it an opportune time. Carl Sagan is the driving force behind the golden record of earthly sounds which became the media focus.

This is slightly better than most PBS hour long specials. It's actually 96 minutes and packs an emotional punch. The wide-eyed poetry of exploration is well presented. This is a lot things. It's an underdog story. It's a scientific documentary. It's an exploration thriller. It brings back all the great discoveries. This could be great for inspiring a high school science class.